Technology

Air Supply: Coined by astrophysics Adam Frank and Amedeo Balbi, the “oxygen bottleneck” describes the critical threshold that separates worlds capable of fostering technological civilizations from those that fall short. “Without a ready source of fire, you’re never going to develop higher technology,” says Frank . Credit: University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw In … Read more

Credit: Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c05547 After the last embers of a campfire dim, the musky smell of smoke remains. Whiffs of that distinct smokey smell may serve as a pleasant reminder of the evening prior, but in the wake of a wildfire, that smell comes with ongoing health risks. Wildfire smoke is … Read more

Suberin is deposited in the tomato exodermis and is regulated by ABA. Credit: Nature Plants (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41477-023-01567-x Plants have to be flexible to survive environmental changes, and the adaptive methods they deploy must often be as changeable as the shifts in climate and condition to which they adapt. To cope with drought, plant roots … Read more

Vocal diversity in fishes and tetrapods. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43794-y For talkative midshipman fish—sometimes called the “California singing fish”—the midbrain plays a robust role in initiating and patterning trains of sounds used in vocal communication. The midbrain in these fish, it turns out, may serve as a useful model for how mammals and … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new analysis of fossils believed to be juveniles of T. rex now shows they were adults of a small tyrannosaur, with narrower jaws, longer legs, and bigger arms than T. rex. The species, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was first named decades ago but later reinterpreted as a young T. rex. The first … Read more